COMP3000 Midterm Review

What is preemptive multitasking?

Allowing multiple CPUs to execute tasks simultaneously

Allowing processes to voluntarily yield control of the CPU

Involves interrupting the currently executing process to schedule another

Involves executing tasks in sequence without interruption

What is the purpose of the FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) system?

To allow users to create file systems without going through the kernel

To manage file permissions and access control

To improve disk performance by caching frequently accessed files

To provide a virtual file system for network-attached storage

What is the function of the RAM in a computer system?

To permanently store data and programs

To execute instructions and perform calculations

To provide temporary storage for data and programs

To manage input/output operations

What is the purpose of environment variables in an operating system?

To store user preferences for system settings

Communicate data and preferences to child processes

To manage internal commands in the shell

To control access permissions for files and directories

Where are environment variables accessible within an operating system?

Only within the shell

Only within specific processes

Throughout the entire operating system

Only within specific user directories

Which of the following statements best describes indirect execution in computing?

Programs are run directly through the CPU

Programs are compiled into machine code that the CPU can understand

Programs are interpreted into machine code by an interpreter

Programs are executed using a virtual machine

What is the purpose of limited direct execution in operating systems?

To execute programs written in compiled languages

To allow processes to execute syscalls without full access to the CPU

To switch the CPU into kernel mode for certain operations

To improve the performance of interpreted languages

What is the role of the PCB (Process Control Block) in operating systems?

To manage the execution context of a process

To schedule processes for execution

To switch the CPU between processes

To track metadata about each process

What is the main difference between threads and processes in computing?

Threads share the same address space, while processes do not

Threads have their own Program Counter (PC) register values, while processes do not

Threads have separate stacks and Stack Pointers (SP), while processes do not

Threads have their own memory allocation, while processes do not

How does swapping help improve memory management in operating systems?

By dividing the address space into fixed-sized pages

By allocating physical memory for each page

By swapping pages of memory onto disk to free up physical memory

By swapping the address space in the RAM

What is the difference between mechanisms and policies in operating systems?

Mechanisms refer to how decisions are made, while policies refer to what decisions are made

Mechanisms refer to what decisions are made, while policies refer to how decisions are made

Mechanisms refer to low-level operations, while policies refer to high-level rules and guidelines

Mechanisms refer to high-level rules and guidelines, while policies refer to low-level operations

What is the role of the kernel in providing abstraction in operating systems?

To manage the execution context of processes

To provide a layer of abstraction between hardware and software

To switch the CPU between processes

To track metadata about each process

Why are fork() and exec() separate operations in operating systems?

Because fork() only creates a duplicate of the parent process, while exec() replaces the current process image with a new one

Because fork() and exec() are used to create threads in a process

Because fork() and exec() are used to manage memory allocation in a process

Because fork() and exec() are used to manage file operations in a process

What is the difference between concurrency and parallelism in computing?

Concurrency refers to processes running at the same time on different CPUs, while parallelism refers to processes running on a shared CPU

Concurrency refers to processes running at exactly the same time, while parallelism refers to processes running at slightly different times

Concurrency refers to processes running at the same time on a shared CPU, while parallelism refers to processes running at the same time on different CPUs

Concurrency and parallelism are the same thing in computing

What is the main difference between static and dynamic memory allocation?

Static allocation allocates memory at compile time, while dynamic allocation allocates memory at runtime

Static allocation allocates memory on the stack, while dynamic allocation allocates memory on the heap

Static allocation is faster than dynamic allocation

Dynamic allocation allows for the resizing of memory blocks

What is the purpose of "/sbin/getty" in the process of interacting with a computer?

Launches the shell

Gets the terminal

Prompts for login

Manages user accounts

What does the "init" process in Unix-like operating systems do?

It manages signals in the system

It reaps zombie processes

It handles user logins

It launches the shell

What is the purpose of the ">" redirection operator in Unix-like operating systems?

They redirect input from a file into a process

They redirect output from a process into a file

They create new files

They append output to an existing file

How does a shell pipeline (|) work in Unix-like operating systems?

It connects input from one process to the output of the other process

It connects output from one process to the input of another process

It connects multiple programs together to form a single command

It redirects output to a file

How can you provide input to a process in Unix-like operating systems using redirection?

By using the">" operator

By using the "<" operator

By using the">>" operator

By using the"|" operator

What is the purpose of the "ioctl()" function in Unix-like operating systems?

It creates a new file

It opens a file for reading and writing

It performs I/O control operations on a file

It reads data from a file descriptor

What is the purpose of the "sigaction()" function in signal handling?

It sends a signal to a process

It sets a signal handler for a specific signal

It suspends the execution of a process

It resumes the execution of a suspended process

What is the significance of the "mountpoint" in Unix-like operating systems?

It is the location where filesystems are mounted in the directory tree

It is a command used to list mounted filesystems

It is a file that contains information about mounted filesystems

It is a system call used to mount filesystems

What is the purpose of the superblock in a filesystem?

It contains the metadata about the whole filesystem

It stores the actual data blocks of files

It maps human-readable filenames to inode numbers

It contains the file metadata, such as link count and data block pointers

How does a symbolic link differ from a hard link in Unix-like operating systems?

A symbolic link can only be created on directories, while a hard link can be created on files

A symbolic link points to a pathname, while a hard link points to an inode

A hard link can span different file systems, while a soft link cannot

A symbolic link has its own inode, while a hard link shares the inode of the original file

What happens when a file is copied within the same filesystem in Unix-like operating systems?

A new inode is created for the copied file

The link count of the original file is decreased by 1

The file is simply relinked to the new pathname

The inode of the original file is removed

What is the purpose of the "fsck" command in Unix-like operating systems?

It creates a new filesystem

It checks and repairs filesystem inconsistencies

It mounts a filesystem to a specific mount point

It lists all mounted filesystems

How does a directory differ from a regular file in Unix-like operating systems?

A directory has its own inode, while a regular file shares the inode of the parent directory

A directory can be accessed at the granularity of blocks, while a regular file cannot

A directory contains only metadata about files, while a regular file contains actual data

A directory contains a collection of tuples (filename, inode number), while a regular file contains data blocks

How are block devices different from character devices in Unix-like operating systems?

Block devices are accessed at the granularity of blocks, while character devices are accessed at the granularity of characters.

Block devices are addressable, while character devices are not

Block devices are used for storing files, while character devices are used for storing device drivers

Block devices have a major number that identifies the type of device, while character devices do not

What is the difference between the logical size and the physical size of a file in Unix-like operating systems?

Logical size can be larger than physical size due to internal fragmentation

Logical size is the actual size of the file, while physical size is the allocated space on disk

Physical size is the actual size of the file, while logical size is the allocated space on disk

Physical size can be larger than logical size due to external fragmentation

What is the purpose of a file descriptor in Unix-like operating systems?

It stores the actual data blocks of a file

It maps human-readable filenames to inode numbers

It is an integer assigned to files opened by a process

It contains metadata about a file, such as link count and data block pointers

What is the purpose of the dentry in a Unix-like filesystem?

It contains the actual data of the file

It maps human-readable filenames to inode numbers

It is a special type of file used for storing device drivers

It stores the metadata about the file, such as permissions and timestamps

What is the purpose of the "fsync" system call in Unix-like operating systems?

It flushes the buffer cache to disk

It synchronizes the filesystem with the disk

It creates a new filesystem

It checks the filesystem for errors

What happens when a file is removed in a Unix-like filesystem?

The file is immediately deleted from disk

The link count of the file is decreased by 1

The inode of the file is immediately removed

The file is moved to a trash bin for recovery

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